Rebellious Psychiatry: Where Mental Health Meets Social Justice

The inaugural RebPsych conference will bring together students, mental health professionals, community activists, consumers, and others to explore the intersection of mental health and social justice. RebPsych is inspired by RebLaw, the annual Yale Law School conference that began in 1994 shortly after the publication of the eponymous work Rebellious Lawyering (1992) authored by Gerald P. Lopez, a law professor and clinician who, in working with diverse, underserved client populations, inspired a generation of lawyers to rethink how best to serve individuals who are disempowered and undocumented.

Friday, April 21, 2017

The inaugural RebPsych conference will bring together students, mental health professionals, community activists, consumers, and others to explore the intersection of mental health and social justice. Modeled on the Rebellious Lawyering conference, which is inspired by lawyer and law professor Gerald P. López and his writings on representing underrepresented and underserved client communities and hosted by Yale Law School, the conference will provide a platform for participants to build partnerships and discuss strategies for social change. We recognize that mental health professionals have long been engaged with social causes, from global mental health initiatives to the recovery movement. However, the mental health professions must also grapple with our participation in individual and structural oppression, such as Guantanamo interrogations, racial disparities in psychiatric diagnosis, and the pathologizing of LGBTQ communities. We hope that the conference will foster a frank conversation about our responsibility to pursue justice and challenge established hierarchies of privilege and power.

RebPsych is eager to receive proposals from a diverse array of people, including (but not limited to) activists, artists, community organizers, consumers, health professionals, students, scholars, and writers. We are especially interested in hearing from individuals who have made activism a crucial part of their work. The conference welcomes traditional academic presentations, panels, debates, discussions of activist work, artistic projects, archival and museum initiatives, and performances that address mental health and social justice.

Keynote Speaker: The Bertram H. Roberts Memorial Lecture

Mindy Fullilove, MDMindy Thompson Fullilove, MD, will present the Bertram H. Roberts Memorial Lecture. She is Professor of Urban Policy and Health in the Urban Policy Analysis and Management Program, Milano School for International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy at The New School for Public Engagement. Her research has focused on health in poor communities, with a special interest in the relationship between the collapse of communities and decline in health. From her research, she has published Root Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America and What We Can Do About It, and The House of Joshua: Meditations on Family and Place. Her most recent book is Urban Alchemy: Restoring Joy in America’s Sorted-Out Cities (2013), which highlights the potential for urban planning and design to repair cities, reconnect communities, and improve residents’ collective well-being.